Archive for the ‘ATM benefits’ Category

Harkin amendment blocked in Senate

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

Republicans and Democrats alike prevented Sen. Tom Harkin’s ATM fee-cap amendment from reaching the Senate floor on Tuesday night. Democrats are trying to get the main bill passed before the Memorial Day recess, so they’re only allowing debate on amendments that have strong support — and preferably bipartisan support. Harkin’s ATM amendment does not pass that test.

The amendment is not dead — Harkin could try to bring it up again, either with this bill or with a different bill later on in the session. But at this point it seems unlikely to be part of the current bill.

Meanwhile, here are a few more people speaking up to oppose the amendment.

From a letter in the Des Moines (IA) Register:

I have to tell you, Sen. Tom Harkin, how disappointed I am with your proposed 50 cents maximum per ATM withdrawal fees. I’m a small-business owner in the ATM business, not a bank, but a hard-working, tax-paying U.S. and Iowa citizen.

It is an absolutely ridiculous statement that ATM withdrawals cost us a mere 36 cents, Senator Harkin. I have quite a few ATMs and drive more than 1,800 miles per week. I have the cost of gas, a vehicle, the cost of the ATMs, the interest for the cash in the ATMs, etc. I pay my locations between 50 cents and $1.50 per withdrawal as I lease the space in the locations.

Is Congress going to stop the person who charges $2.29 for a cup of coffee versus the store that charges 99 cents? Is Congress going to put a cap on Nike shoes when a merchant charges more than $200 for a pair of shoes that cost him $65, but the demand is there, so he can charge what he wants?

The biggest difference is my ATMs have a screen that asks the customer if they agree to the charges. If not, they hit cancel.

— Jeff “Ole” Olson, Guttenberg

And the Cato Institute resurrects a paper from 1998, the last time a senator (in that case, Republican Al D’Amato of New York) proposed capping surcharges:

Consumers have the ability to obtain money from their bank accounts without paying a surcharge. ATM surcharges allow banks and other ATM operators to deploy machines in more convenient locations than might otherwise be possible. Customers who are unwilling to pay a surcharge incur the cost of inconvenience, while those who value the convenience more than the cost of the fee have the option of paying for it. Senator D’Amato, Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)–Congress’s self-proclaimed socialist–and numerous consumer groups have formed an unlikely coalition to put an end to ATM surcharges. If successful, that campaign would limit the options of consumers, since there would be no means to support the more convenient ATM machines. Prohibiting ATM surcharges would only harm consumers by slowing the expansion of ATMs and reducing the number of ATMs currently deployed without making anyone better off.

The 1998 effort failed, which is why you find privately-owned ATMs all over the place, complementing the bank-owned ATM networks. It looks like the latest effort will fail, too — which is good for consumers and good for business.

Tags: ATM, atm fees, ATM machines, Cash machine
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In midst of recession, ATM use surged

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

The ATM business is sometimes described as “recession proof”, and stories like this are one reason why.

U.S. consumers are withdrawing more money from ATMs, likely the result of the economic recession, industry insiders say. In September 2008, when the recession was official, consumers started relying more heavily on cash and debit, and less on credit.

Gary Faulkner, the executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Morphis Cash Forecasting Software of Dallas, says it was around that time that U.S. ATM withdrawals started going up. He said many of his ATM customers started complaining that the Morphis forecasting tool was not meeting targets, and ATMs were often low on cash because of increased withdrawal amounts. Faulkner says ATMs that had been effectively managed by Morphis’ system for years were suddenly running out of cash.

“Starting in September 2008, customers were complaining that the forecasting was not right,” he said. “Nearly universally, our customers saw an increase in transactions and an increase in cash withdrawals per transaction.”

Faulkner says the volume of transactions increased as well. In fact, Faulkner estimates that the overall cash withdrawals from each transaction increased from roughly $65 to $75 a transaction to about $100 a transaction.

We’ve written before about the practice of using cash accounting to manage tight budgets — withdrawing a certain amount of money for holiday shopping or a weekly budget, and when the cash is gone, stop spending. We’ve also noted why a recession can be good for ATM usage.

Now the numbers are in. ATMs really *are* recession proof.

Tags: ATM, ATM machine, ATM machines, ATM Network, ATMs, Cash machine
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ATM Network moves customer statements online

Monday, March 29th, 2010

Tax time can be a headache for many small business owners. It’s not just that business tax rules can be confusing and arbitrary. Spring is the time when you have to go through a year’s worth of saved receipts and paperwork, trying to find a specific number or form, and hoping you didn’t accidentally throw out or misfile an important piece of paper.

At ATM Network, we understand this very well. Every year at this time we get a lot of calls from our customers. Usually it’s because their accountant needs to know how much money they made on their ATMs last year, and they didn’t save all the monthly statements we sent them with their checks.

It’s an even bigger headache for people who own a lot of ATMs. Someone with 80 machines has to keep track of — and add up — nearly 1,000 different monthly statements. The headache can be enormous.

Then there are the checks themselves. Paper checks can get lost, stolen or damaged. They take days to arrive. And machine owners have to take them to the bank, physically endorse them and deposit them.

At the end of 2009, ATM Network took a big step toward making things easier for customers by switching from paper checks to electronic payments. Customer profits are deposited directly in their bank account — automatically, without risk, and usually 10 days or so earlier than with paper checks.

Now ATM Network has taken the next step with Webstatements, its online statement archive.

Instead of receiving and storing a paper statement, customers can login to their Webstatements account to view their machine’s financial results.

They can see total activity for all of their machines, or view each machine individually. They can sort results by month and year. And if they do want paper copies, they can print out individual statements for all of their machines with a single click of the mouse.

The online statements contain all the information that used to be on ATM Network’s paper statements: profit information, daily activity, network activity, and more. So it’s easy to see at a glance how a machine is being used and how profitable it is.

Webstatements works in conjunction with ATM Portal, an online reporting service that tracks up-to-the-minute activity and keeps track of daily operating items like how much cash remains in each machine. ATM Portal provides daily reporting; Webstatements provides monthly summaries, as well as customer-specific financial information unavailable through ATM Portal.

It’s just one more way that ATM Network provides its partners with top-of-the-line service and accountability.

Tags: ATM, ATM for sale, ATM machine, ATM machine for sale, ATM machines, ATM machines for sale, ATMs, ATMs for sale, Buy ATM, Buy ATM machine, Buy ATM machines, Buy ATMs
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Dispense lotto cards from your ATM

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Nautilus Hyosung has developed software that will let ATMs sell Quick Pick lottery tickets.

Nautilus Hyosung America Inc. has partnered with Linq 3 to enable the purchase of quick pick lottery tickets on Nautilus Hyosung’s CE ATM models. Nautilus has been developing the software application for the CE models and will demonstrate the quick pick functionality during next week’s ATM Industry Association conference in Miami.

Linq3 developed the secure links to state lottery commissions that makes the whole thing work.

The software will work on any Hyosung machine running Windows CE. That includes the 1800CE and 5000CE.

All new CE models will ship with the software, and already-installed machines can get a software update to run it.

Tags: ATM, ATM machine, ATM machines, ATMs
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Site planning helps maximize ATM’s value

Monday, December 28th, 2009

The basic idea of an ATM isn’t complicated: give customers an easy way to get cash and you’ll attract customers, increase spending in your store and earn surcharge revenue — never mind the savings on bad checks and credit-card transactions.

But taking some time to think about how and where to use your ATM will help you get the most out of it.

A recent report on ATM site-planning offers an idea of what’s involved. It focuses on banks, but many of the concepts also apply to retail locations. For example:

Placement. Is the machine visible and accessible? Can people use the machine without getting in the way of other customers? Is there enough space to accomodate a small line of people waiting to withdraw cash?

Security. This involves two aspects: security for customers, and security for the machine itself. If the ATM is inside the store, is it visible to the desk clerk or security cameras? Is the area around the ATM open and well-lighted? If the ATM is outside, is it bolted down or in a locked enclosure? If the ATM is hidden from view, it puts customers at risk and increases the possibility of attempted theft.

Advertising. Do signs clearly and prominently advertise the existence of the ATM? Do interior signs clearly direct customers to the machine? If customers don’t know you have an ATM, they won’t stop in to use it. If the ATM is hard to find, fewer people will use it. Proper location and signage work together to maximize ATM usage.

Regulations. Standalone ATMs usually don’t require permits — just hook them up inside your store and you’re ready to go. But anything that involves construction (like through-the-wall ATMs) or external structures (like ATMs placed outside in kiosks or other enclosures) is probably subject to zoning and construction laws. Check with your city’s building inspectors to find out what is needed and allowed.

Power and communications. Every ATM needs two things: a power supply, and some way to communicate with transaction processing networks. Keep that in mind when picking a location. Consider the ease/cost of running power and either a phone line or Internet connection to the desired location. If that’s a problem, or if you just want more flexibility, consider a wireless option. You still need the power supply, but by using cellular phone networks for communication you save on the cost of running a communication line, and you can place the machine anywhere you can run a power cord.

The article goes on to discuss the implications of changing consumer behavior: notably, the total comfort that people under 30 have with doing all their financial business through ATMs and kiosks. ATM owners that are ready to serve that population will benefit the most in the coming years.

Nicole Sturgill, of TowerGroup, noted that self-service financial transactions have expanded to include both the traditionally underbanked as well as consumers who may have lost access to credit or bank services through recent hardships. The growth of prepaid debit for payroll and money transfer has fueled the resurgence of cash.

“At both ends of the spectrum we are seeing the transaction volumes at the ATM going up fairly quickly,” Sturgill said.

Another factor driving the advancement of ATM functions just may be a generational shift. Consumers under the age of 30 or so have grown up using self-service machines in restaurants, airports, grocery stores and many other venues. With direct deposit of paychecks, online banking and debit cards, many young consumers may never set foot in a traditional bank branch.

And that means opportunity for non-bank ATM owners.

So take a few moments to think about how an ATM fits into your business model. Then find a location that minimizes installation costs while maximizing usage, and watch your ATM become a pillar of your business.

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Enclosures add security, branding to outdoor ATMs

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

One problem with through-the-wall ATMs is that they have to be attached to a wall. With interior installations, that’s not usually a problem: the front of the ATM is in the public part of the store, while the rear is in the back room.

But if the store wants the machine to be accessible from outside, it needs to find a place on its exterior wall that is both accessible and observable. That can mean giving up prime sidewalk or parking-lot space in front of the store so that customers can walk or drive up to the ATM.

Enter the ATM enclosure.

Enclosures let you direct ATM traffic to the far corner of your parking lot, turning an underused area into a profit center. The machine is available 24 hours a day, meaning you’re making money on it even when you’re home asleep. And the enclosure can be painted or wrapped with any graphics you want, providing a highly visible advertising and marketing opportunity.

Enclosures have other advantages, too:

From a consumer’s point of view, the look and feel of an ATM installation can inspire confidence. ATM users want to interact with units that are attractive and appear to be safe.

From the operator’s perspective, security and maintenance expenses play a major role in the return on investment. Installations that provide maximum protection from the weather, vandalism and theft reduce operating costs and generate more revenue.

Enclosures are very secure. They’re usually made out of thick steel, with heavy-duty locks on access doors. Enclosures that are big enough for a person to walk into are even more secure, because technicians and cash-loaders can lock themselves inside while they do their work — and the machine can be serviced even if it’s raining or snowing outside.

In addition, enclosures offer protection from the weather and vandalism. By adding heating, cooling and humidifier units, an ATM owner can maintain an optimal operating environment, maximizing uptime, extending the machine’s life and cutting down on service calls.

Then there’s branding. A standard enclosure might be 6 feet square and 8 feet high. That’s a pretty big billboard that can help draw attention to both the ATM and your store.

Finally, enclosures offer a lot of flexibility. Buyers can choose from standard models or a custom design, a big footprint or a small one. More importantly, they allow machines that weren’t designed for outdoor use to be put outdoors, giving buyers a much wider range of ATM models and applications to choose from.

Enclosures can be pricey. While the structures themselves run just a few thousand dollars, site preparation can range from a few hundred dollars into many thousands, depending on how much electrical, concrete and excavating work needs to be done.

But for high-volume locations, or places where competition makes standing out crucial, enclosures offer an unbeatable combination of security, availability and branding.

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Can you trust your ATM provider?

Friday, November 20th, 2009

Buying an ATM involves two related but different transactions: buying a machine, and finding a processing company to handle the transactions for the machine.

Many buyers focus heavily on the first transaction, and that’s understandable: they’re spending a couple thousand dollars on a piece of hardware. They want to make sure they get the right machine at a good price, along with decent after-the-sale support like shipping, installation, training, warranties, repairs and so on.

But a lot of ATM owners don’t pay enough attention to the second transaction, and that’s a mistake: in the long run, the processing company you choose will have a bigger effect on your business than the model of ATM you bought or the price you paid for it.

Consider two owners who buy the same machine. One pays $2000; one pays $2500. The machines both earn $500 a month, on top of the other ATM benefits like increased sales and reduced bad-check charges.

The first owner will pay off the machine in four months; the second owner will pay it off in five months. After that, there’s no difference in the profitability of the machines.

But processing contracts tend to cover long periods of time — five years or more. So the processing company you choose will affect your business long after you’ve forgotten how much you paid for your machine. That’s why it pays to choose your processor even more carefully than you choose your machine.

Here are some things to look for in a processing company:

Do they have a track record?

You’re going to be trusting your business to your processor for a long time. You want some assurance that they will be around for the long haul. Find out how long they’ve been in business and how many machines they handle processing for. Ask for customer testimonials or industry endorsements.

Are they trustworthy?

This is a big one. You depend on your processor for all of your ATM profits. They’re responsible for calculating your surcharge revenue and paying it to you every month, accurately and on time. Your processor also reimburses you for money that customers withdraw from the machine. Can you trust them to handle all that money and get it to you on time, every time?

In Arizona, for example, an ATM company named Global Cash was recently fined and nearly barred from doing business in the state because it defrauded banks by miscoding cash advance transactions and then misled regulators about it.

In California, the owner of All States ATM recently pleaded guilty to charges of defrauding investors by claiming to be an eight-year-old company with hundreds of employees and ATMs, when in fact there was nothing.

Clearly, you don’t want to trust your money and ATM income to a processor that is at risk of legal trouble or willing to cut ethical corners. Either one can hurt your business, even if you’re not a direct victim of their actions.

What services do they provide?

Does the company merely process transactions? Do they have a service department in case your machine breaks down? Do they offer on-going technical support for operating your machine? Do they provide guidance on how to get the most value out of your machine through proper placement, signage and use? Do they offer ways to upgrade or customize your machine, such as wireless connections, advertising surrounds or custom advertising screens? When you have problems or questions, are they easy to reach? Or do you always get voicemail and they never return your calls?

Do your homework on your processing company, and you’ll be much happier — and more profitable — in the years to come.

ATM Network

So how does ATM Network stack up? Quite well, we think. Some things to know about us:

We’ve been in business for 13 years.
In that time we’ve grown steadily, and now service more than 5,000 locations.
We’ve been a member of the Better Business Bureau since 2001.
We’re listed on Dun & Bradstreet.
We have a nationwide service and parts department, staffed with skilled technicians who can fix your machine or help you access advanced features.
We’re the exclusive online ATM provider for Sam’s Club.
We have lots of customer testimonials and industry endorsements.
We provide 24/7 customer service, with fast, helpful response times.
We offer automatic direct deposit of your money — on time, every time. Every day we reimburse you for customer withdrawals, and every month we send you your surcharge income.
We offer lots of customization and upgrade options, as well as kiosks and advertising surrounds.

Even better, processing with ATM Network costs you nothing. We make our money from your customers’ banks, not you. So you keep 100% of your surcharge revenue while knowing your processing is being handled by one of the most stable, responsive and trustworthy companies in the business.

We also offer great prices on ATMs. Why? Because we make money on processing. Without the machine, there are no transactions to process. So we sell our ATMs almost at cost in order to get your processing business. Then we ship it to you for free, advise you on the best place to put it, install it, train you to operate it and give you signs to advertise it.

That’s why we’ve been in business for 13 years. It’s why we have thousands of locations, and a long list of endorsements and testimonials. And it’s why thousands of smart ATM owners trust us to handle their processing.

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‘I don’t feel like a client; I feel like I am their friend.’

Friday, November 13th, 2009

A letter we received this week from a new client:

Over the past 3-4 weeks we have been converting our ATM machines to ATM Network. At first, the task seemed insurmountable. We were in a race against time with our previous vendor, who temporarily locked us out of the data-tracking website; shut down one of our machines; removed another one of our machines from a very profitable site and replaced it with his own machine without any discussion with us; and then, it appears, starting changing system and maintenance passwords….

Our initial contacts with Steve Fisher gave us not only confidence in your company, but hope to save our small business. He is diligent about returning e-mails and phone calls and communication was our lifeline. He, in turn, got (service manager) Tom James involved; and I cannot tell you how helpful, kind and patient Tom has been through all of this. With Tom walking me through every step, we did a whirlwind of conversions. I made mistakes, dumped screens, etc. but thankfully became more proficient with each conversion. Although I have not met Tom … he is one of the most decent, caring and helpful individuals I have ever communicated with.

I don’t know how many clients give you feedback; but I wanted you to know what a fine team you have put together. … Most of all, I don’t feel like a client; I feel like I am their friend.

Lori Manning
Independent OSO

Read more customer testimonials on our testimonials page, or by clicking on the “Endorsements” category in the left column.

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Turning ATMs into marketing machines

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

digitaltransactions

We’ve touched on the subject before, but this month’s issue of Digital Transactions (available in pdf form) has an article by Mary Knich, a vice president at First Data Corp., about ways ATMs are becoming more than a simple cash-dispensing device.

She mentions in passing that many bank ATMs are becoming unprofitable, thanks to expense (bank ATMs can cost as much as $50,000, compared to around $2,000 for retailer ATMs) and a lack of surcharge fees. (Never mind that the main reason banks installed ATMs in the first place was to save money on teller salaries rather than make money on transactions).

Those factors don’t affect nonbank ATMs, which are cheaper, use surcharges, and offer other bottom-line benefits like increased customer traffic. But some of her suggestions could be adapted by private ATM owners to maximize the value their ATM brings to their business. The two main ones:

Make the transaction experience a pleasant one.
Modern machines and fast Internet connections can work together to make ATMs part of a customer-relationship program. Faster transactions are part of it; consumers are more impatient than ever before. But those same fast connections, coupled with the modern Windows-based operating systems used by newer ATMs, mean it’s easier to add off-the-shelf functionality to ATMs or serve up customized graphics and video to either advertise or entertain.

Advertise to a captive audience.
While you want the transaction to go fast, why not grab your customer’s eyeballs for the few seconds they do wait? Customized ad screens or even short videos give users something besides the walls to look at. For merchants it’s an opportunity to cross-sell products, offer personalized promotions or simply entertain their clientele. Then send them on their way with your own on-receipt advertising — a coupon, say, or an upcoming special — so they have an incentive to come back.

When you think of it, dispensing cash is only one small part of an ATM’s attributes. Consider: it’s essentially a PC with a color screen, hooked up to the Internet, sitting in a metal case that’s 2 feet square and four or five feet high. Think about what an Internet-capable PC can do. Think about how much advertising and graphics you could pack into 20 or 30 square feet of surface area. Now think what you can do by combining all those features into one package. It’s a cash machine! It’s a billboard! It’s a video player!

With the right machine, the possibilities are staggering.

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Some grocery stores stop taking checks

Monday, October 19th, 2009

Given the hassle and fraud involved in personal checks, and the widespread availability of ATMs, it was probably just a matter of time before this happened:

Whole Foods Market Inc. is considering banning the use of personal checks at its stores and this month stopped accepting checks at two stores in Los Angeles County and one in Arizona as a test. Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, the California division of British retailing giant Tesco, won’t take personal checks at any of the 70 stores it operates in California.

“Supermarkets used to be a repository of checking, cashing payroll and personal checks, but in an age of direct deposit and debit cards, that’s not something that is relevant to their customers anymore,” said Mac Brand, a Chicago food industry consultant. The heads of these chains see check processing as a time-consuming and expensive service at a time when the industry wants to drive down business costs, he said.

The move got mixed reviews from shoppers.

“Grocery stores are a dime a dozen. If the Albertsons where I shop stopped accepting checks, I would just go to Vons,” said Kerry Showalter of Newbury Park.

The new policy would also be hard on many seniors, who have been slow to adopt the use of debit cards, said Gail Hillebrand, a lawyer and financial services expert for the nonprofit Consumers Union.

But a widespread move by the grocery industry to ban personal checks would not upset shoppers such as Sharon Fern of Placentia.

“I haven’t written or carried a checkbook in many years,” she said. “Wouldn’t bother me a bit.” Debit cards are far more convenient, she said.

The stores say the ban will improve service, because processing check payments is a time-consuming process that slow up an entire checkout line. The stores hope check-writing customers will switch to using debit cards or ATMs.

“We keep our systems as simple as possible, keeping prices low for customers. We do accept cash, credit and debit cards and also have an ATM in-store,” said Brendan Wonnacott, a spokesman for Fresh & Easy.

Bill Jordan, Whole Foods’ regional vice president, said prohibiting personal checks should improve service.

“Since most of our customers pay with cash, debit cards or credit cards, we want them to be able to check out as quickly as possible. This pilot program was put in place to see if personal check users would make the switch to debit cards or another form of payment.”

A recent rise in bad checks also factors into the new policy, he said. “That unfortunately makes it more difficult for the remaining customers who prefer to pay this way. To help reduce fraud, we have a several-step personal check approval process that can often inconvenience other customers in line,” Jordan said.

Not mentioned: the cost of bad-check fees, which can range as high as $35 per check. There are ways to fight that, of course — such as using free check-collection services. But that doesn’t solve the time problem.

So the checks have to go — unless the stores experience a sharp decline in sales because of it. But if they’re correct and shoppers simply switch to cash and plastic, we may be seeing the beginning of the end for the personal check.

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